College Baseball 360 Composite National Rankings #4

Five of the top-10 teams in CB360 exclusive Composite National Rankings (CNR) have remained in their same spots from the previous week, but there’s plenty of movement in the bottom of the CB360 top-50 – with eight teams entering/re-entering the top-50.

The top-3 teams (Florida, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma) remain unchanged in the CNR, while current #4 South Carolina, #5 Florida State and #6 Arizona State all have bumped up one position. Cal State Fullerton (#10 to #7) made the biggest jump within the top-10 while #8 Clemson and #9 TCU holds the same spots as the previous week. UCLA – after dropping a classic series at Nebraska (all three games went to extra-innings – has plunged from #4 to #10, two weeks removed from holding the top position in the CB360 Composite National Rankings.

The CNR’s current top-10 includes the same conference breakdown as the previous week, led by three Southeastern Conference teams, plus two teams each from the ACC and Pac-10 conferences.

The CNR’s all-inclusive ranking formula – which will expand significantly as the season progresses (adding RPI/power rankings, NCAA projections, etc.) – currently includes seven different “ingredients:” six national polls (coaches, writers, BA, CB, Perfect Game, & CBL) and a small potential bonus, based on preseason projected strength-of-schedule.

Scroll to end of release for detailed description of the CNR, including direct links to current criteria.

College Baseball 2011 Composite National Rankings #4 (CNR)courtesy of CollegeBaseball360.com; March 8, 2011

RANK

TEAM

POINTS

March 1

Feb. 22

2011 Preseason

1

Florida

98.64

1

2

2

2

Vanderbilt

97.09

2

3

4

3

Oklahoma

95.39

3

5

5

4

South Carolina

93.22

5

7

9

5

Florida State

91.80

6

10

12

6

Arizona State

90.36

7

8

10

7

Cal State Fullerton

90.32

10

11

8

8

Clemson

90.04

8

9

7

9

TCU

89.60

9

4

3

10

UCLA

88.57

4

1

1

11

Virginia

88.16

13

14

15

12

Texas

87.59

11

6

6

13

LSU

85.65

14

16

19

14

Arizona

84.17

17

17

18

15

Stanford

84.06

12

12

13

16

North Carolina

80.44

21

23

30

17

Texas A&M

80.13

15

15

14

18

Rice

77.79

18

18

17

19

Fresno State

75.81

19

31

32

20

Georgia Tech

73.49

25

24

23

21

Auburn

70.07

23

22

22

22

Arkansas

66.10

26

27

29

23

UC Irvine

64.01

22

28

28

24

California

63.43

20

26

24

25

Louisville

62.15

30

25

27

26

College of Charleston

61.44

27

29

26

27

Oregon

60.90

16

13

11

28

Connecticut

59.68

28

20

16

29

Wichita State

59.46

29

33

33

30

Baylor

56.43

31

30

25

31

Tulane

54.66

41

38

32

Coastal Carolina

52.73

35

21

21

33

James Madison

51.17

47

47

–

34

Nebraska

49.50

-

-

-

35

Cal State Bakersfield

47.97

-

-

-

36

Oregon State

45.21

38

39

44

37

Mississippi

44.71

32

38

43

38

Oklahoma State

44.28

44

39

Kansas State

43.29

46

42

40

40

Long Beach State

42.33

49

43

–

41

Central Florida

42.18

43

45

47

42

Duke

41.87

-

-

-

42

Creighton

41.87

-

-

-

44

Troy

41.55

47

–

45

Charlotte

41.23

45

47

–

46

Miami

41.20

24

19

20

47

Mississippi State

40.81

-

-

-

48

Alabama

40.42

39

34

37

49

Florida International

40.41

-

-

-

50

Texas Tech

40.18

37

-

-

COMPOSITE NATIONAL RANKINGS (CNR) CRITERIA:CB360′s 100-point Composite National Rankings formula currently is centered around seven core ingredients but in upcoming weeks will include upwards of 20 different factors – ultimately combining a diverse collection of “experts” (ranging from coaches, various media, computer calculations and projections) – to help provide a preview of teams that could be in the running for the 2011 NCAA Championship field (hypothetically 50 teams, plus 14 others from lower-rated automatic-bid conferences – those teams will be projected in upcoming CNR updates).

Teams receive points based on their standings in each poll/rating/projection (60 pts for #1; 59 for #2, etc.). For polls involving voting points (coaches and CB) and the RPI ratings, the CNR adjusts to reward teams that have larger margins in the voting/point totals (whereas two teams with nearly the same voting-point total will be closer in the CNR allotment for that poll). Note that strength-of-schedule typically is factored into RPI formulations … thus the actual SOS numbers are not used in the CNR when RPI already are in the mix. For the NCAA field projections, teams will be awarded CNR points based on their respective seedings, “last in” and “last out,” etc.

Currently, the six polls listed below are averaged, with a maximum of 3.0 points able to be added based on projected strength-of-schedule (37 points then are added to each total in order to yield the 100-point benchmark). The CB360 Composite National Rankings will add factors to the formula through the 2011 season, with the additions to include various RPI/power rankings, NCAA Tournament projections and a late-season bonus/penalty for record over the past-10 games.